Sol Regem (Episode)
}} Sol Regem is the nineteenth episode of The Dragon Prince and first chapter of the third book, "'Sun". To cross to Xadia, Rayla and Callum must find a way past a fearsome dragon who was blinded in a battle with a human. Plot In a flashback of the past, the dark mage Ziard waits for the Dragon King, Sol Regem, on a tall mountain near the city of Elarion. When he arrives, the dragon inhales, claiming that he "smells death", referring to the use of dark magic. He orders Ziard and his followers to give up the use of the forbidden magic, but the human fears a time where his people were starving, refusing to return to these dark days where they were considered "lesser beings". As Sol Regem still considers them lesser beings, he mocks Ziard, then orders him to lay down his staff and to walk away. When the man claims it was a gift, Sol Regem furiously demands to know who gave him the staff, to which he receives the response that it was one of the "great ones". Enraged, the king threatens to reduce Elarion and its people to ashes if the staff would not be given up. When he ascends into the sky to turn his threat into reality however, Ziard creates a tornado, draining the life from a swarm of Xadian bird creatures. Both parties cast a ball of fire at each other, one pulverizing the dark mage on hit, while the smaller fire permanently blinds Sol Regem. Picking up where Breathe left off, Rayla, Callum and Azymondias find themselves facing the Sun King Sol Regem, who blocks their path from entering Xadia. Rayla informs Callum that they are not facing an ordinary dragon, but the former king of the dragons, who has become a symbol of rage and bitterness after he was blinded during the wars. They debate how to get past him and Rayla decides that it's possible to sneak past him, teaching her friend about the art of stealth. Seeing as she only lists two senses that they have to fool, hearing and smell, Callum wonders why some are missing. In response, Rayla jokes that getting involved with the dragon's sense of touch or taste would be anything but beneficial. Back at The Border, Lieutenant Fen suggests to Amaya to gather their battalion and to abandon the fortress, as he fears an inevitably attack of the Sunfire elves, which they could not withstand due to the lack of numbers in available men. A solider informs Amaya that the enemy has taken over the outpost on the Xadian side of the breach. Amaya, overwhelmed with frustration over the situation, punches into the bridge's wall, when another soldier informs her that "someone" has arrived. Zym proves to be terrified of Sol Regem, squirming and whining loudly as he does not trust their mission to sneak past the terrifying giant. Though Callum manages to calm him down briefly, and the group makes their way behind a large rock, Zym loses his nerves once more due to the scary growling of the dragon, which causes him to flee and loudly whimper. Listening to only sounds, Sol Regem attempts to find the source of the noise, but Rayla manages to distract him by throwing a rock into another direction. Due to Zym's consistent noise, they are eventually located and Sol Regem unleashes a stream of fire into their direction, luckily missing. The "someone" turns out to be Gren, who has been freed from imprisonment and is finally returning to his battalion. Overjoyed, Amaya rushes towards her dear friend, lifting and twirling him in a tight embrace. After saluting to one another, Amaya quickly takes notice of Gren's new beard, which she questions with a smug expression. The two swiftly engage in a sign language conversation to catch up, but are interrupted by Lieutenant Fen who wishes to learn where their requested reinforcements are, as he had sent many requests to Katolis to receive aid. Gren lets his comrades know that Lord Viren has been arrested for treason, meaning no reinforcements will arrive. Amaya finally admits that they have no chance of defending the bridge, but refuses to abandon her position, instead wanting to destroy the bridge entirely. With no option left, Rayla is forced to reason with the hostile giant. She introduces herself to the dragon and explains that she has traveled The Human Kingdoms on order of Zubeia, the Dragon Queen. She explains that she is transporting the Dragon Prince, which is responded to with anger of her "lies". She proves herself by holding Zym towards the former king, much to the displeasure of the baby. Sol Regem allows the two to pass, but refuses entry for Callum, whom he calls a "wretched human". Callum agrees to stay behind, but Sol Regem corrects him that he plans to kill either all of them or just the human he despises. Although Rayla puts her heart and soul into a speech to stand up for her friend, all reasoning is futile when the stench of dark magic is discovered on him. Once inside the lava cave that edges on the bridge, Amaya and her comrades attach a cable to several barrels, which are filled with explosives that they hope to detonate, in order to destroy the path that connects them with Xadia. Callum believes that if him dying is the only way to return Zym to his mother, then he'd meet his end there and then. Rayla chuckles and reminds him that their enemy needs at least five minutes to recharge before using his fire breath again. Callum manages to come up with a new plan, suggesting that he could use his aspiro spell to relocate his scent to fool Sol Regem's sense of smelling. In order to quickly make use of his human scent, Rayla requests to wear Callum's scarf to get Sol Regem's attention while Callum and Zym make a run for it. Although Callum deems the plan risky, he hands her his scarf, which smells strongly as he hasn't bathed in two weeks. When the battalion attempts to detonate their barrels, they find the cable cut by Janai's sword. Amaya decided that someone has to engage with the enemy in order to detonate the barrels and volunteers to do so herself. Gren stops her, reminding her that she will be very likely to die, but it's a sacrifice his general is willing to take as long as the rest of her people makes it out safely. While Rayla provides an opening, Callum rushes behind a large rock. Yet another stream of fire is unleashed towards the elf woman, who barely manages to hide behind a rock. To her shock, her temporary shelter begins to crumble onto her. Amaya charges at Janai and manages to get behind her using her horse's jump, however, the torch to light the cable slips off the edge and falls down the cliff. Knowing she no longer has a way to succeed, Gren rushes to save Amaya, but is too late when Janai activates her sun magic, initiating yet another attack. Amaya manages to dodge the attack and disarms the elf of her sunforged sword, throwing it into the barrel, successfully detonating it. The blow pushes Janai off the cliff, where she holds on for her life. Despite their differences, Amaya saves her life by pulling her back up, but instead of thanking her, Janai turns towards her soldiers, who surround the general, capturing her. Rayla finds herself stuck in between rubble from the collapsed rock. When seeing an arch nearby, Callum ponders if he could lure the enemy into it and whisper-yells to his friend to throw his scarf. Unfortunately, Rayla misunderstands that he wants her to throw up, but corrects herself when witnessing Callum's air drawing of the aspiro symbol. Using the scarf in the wind as lure, they manage to capture Sol Regem inside the archway. Zym kicks some dirt into his direction before he leaves with a chirp. In prison, Aaravos reassures a hopeless Viren that his time to succeed will come if he will be patient. On the surface, Opeli declares that she deems Viren too dangerous and suggests to permanently rid the world of him. The high council and the guards are alarmed as several loud knocks bang against the doors of the throne room. To their pleasant surprise, Ezran enters the room on the back of a Banther, accompanied by Corvus, who is returning their king to the city. With a heavy heart, Ezran dismounts the animal and takes his place on the throne, where Opeli offers him the rightful crown of Katolis. His subjects bow to their new king. Cast Trivia *Upon entering the throne room, the Banther only growls at Saleer, likely sensing danger from him before he betrays Ezran. Credits *The image in which Sol Regem passes the sun resembles the opening scene of the series, where he passes the sun while the Sun Primal is mentioned. References }} Navigation Category:A to Z Category:Book Three Category:Episodes